


Transience

by glitterburn (orphan_account)



Category: Tale of Genji - Murasaki Shikibu
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-05-29
Updated: 2011-05-29
Packaged: 2017-10-19 21:52:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,853
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/205599
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/glitterburn
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Furious at Yugiri’s marriage to the Second Princess, Kumoi no Kari pays a visit to her rival.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Transience

**Author's Note:**

  * For [maat_seshat](https://archiveofourown.org/users/maat_seshat/gifts).



The Commander’s wife was in a fury.

Kumoi no Kari lay on the floor with her hair in a tangle and her sleeves covering her face. She shook not with sobs but with rage at the thought of the Commander paying court to Her Highness the Second Princess. How unfair it was, that after so many years of marriage and after giving him so many precious children, he should see fit to cast her aside so easily! She would not stand for it. She had left him and gone to her father’s house, taking with her all their daughters and the baby.

The children, who were still very young, clambered over her, ignorant of her anger. She was glad when her nurse Taifu took them in hand and allowed her to vent her frustration alone.

A message came from her elder sister the Kokiden Consort, who was then at home. After weeks of suspicion and days of discussing the matter with her gentlewomen, Kumoi no Kari thought it would be a relief to unburden herself to her sister. The Consort arrived and they made themselves comfortable. The Consort, who had dealt with her own disappointments, came prepared to offer gentle advice and sympathy. Instead she found her sister a-flow with anger, words of bitter accusation spilling over like a mountain stream in flood.

“He has been so constant before,” the Consort murmured. “Obviously this is a dreadful shock. But you mustn’t take it to heart. You have done nothing wrong, and anyway, you will always be the one he considers first.”

Kumoi no Kari hurled a comb box across the floor. “But _she_ is a princess!”

The Consort laid a soothing hand on her sister’s arm. “It’s not as if your lineage is so poor in comparison! Your mother is of imperial blood, and surely there are few other men regarded as highly as our father. She may be a princess, but she has no one in the world to speak for her now. Perhaps you should pity her rather than see her as a rival.”

“She is not my rival.” But Kumoi no Kari still thought of her in those terms, and her anger swelled again.

“He dallied before,” the Consort remembered. “With that Gosechi dancer, the one who became Dame of Staff. He has children with her, yet you never showed any jealousy towards her.”

“She is not worth noticing,” Kumoi no Kari said with a sniff. “Besides, he took up with her when he couldn’t have me. I heard she resembles me in some small ways. I tolerated their attachment because it meant nothing—but this one, oh, this one could mean something, the end of everything!”

She had worked herself into a frenzy again and bit at her sleeves. Her hair hung limp and wet with tears and her face was pale, her nose red at the tip and her eyes puffy. The Consort withdrew, sufficiently alarmed to send word to their father.

His Excellency had never stood too much on ceremony within his own household, and as he grew older he became fonder of his children than ever before. When he received the Consort’s message he called on Kumoi no Kari, going straight through the curtains to sit beside her. Oh dear! he thought with some dismay, how unattractive she looks huddled in a heap like that! It simply will not do.

He tugged at her sleeve. “Now, now, what is the matter? Can’t you see what a poor example you’re setting for your children? Look—this dear little one is calling for your attention!” He picked up the baby and held it in his arms. It was such a pretty child, and it cooed and squirmed in a delightful manner, and His Excellency was quite overcome with emotion.

Kumoi no Kari raised herself from her listless state and took the baby, which snuggled against her in search of nourishment. She called for Taifu, who apologised for allowing the baby to crawl away. Kumoi no Kari scolded her in violent tones.

“Goodness me,” said His Excellency. “You sound so fierce! I’m sure none of my other children have ever displayed such a temper. It must be karma, or perhaps I may attribute this unfortunate tendency to your mother—though I am sure she is blameless.”

“Father,” Kumoi no Kari spoke with a dignity quite at odds with her dishevelled appearance, “my temper I get from you, no one else.”

“Oh dear me, no, that cannot be right!” His Excellency hid his amusement. “I am acknowledged by everyone as being a man of moderate and sober disposition.”

Seeing that he was laughing at her, she exclaimed in annoyance:

“ _I sought for shelter beneath this roof,  
But I fear I sought in vain..._” [1]

But His Excellency only chuckled. “I would not let you wet your sleeves with rain over such a trifling matter. The problem is not that the Commander has strayed in his affections, for I am certain that he is nothing like his father in that regard. No, what is at issue here is your own attitude. For all these years you have been as content as a pair of mandarin ducks on a pond, and you allowed yourself to become complacent. You thought nothing would change, and you forgot that everything does change. How can anything last forever, unchanging, in a transient world?”

Kumoi no Kari dried her eyes as she listened. She wanted to argue with him, but what he said was true and perfectly correct, and she felt a little guilty for taking her husband’s ceaseless devotion for granted all this time. The Commander had his faults, of course, but so did she, and while they fought and he called her a shrew and a demon, he always had a twinkle in his eyes when he said it, and they would always retire to their curtained bed at the close of every argument. Things had been that way ever since they first married.

Little wonder I thought nothing would change, she told herself. Maybe I did become complacent. Few other women have had my good fortune. And it’s true that he is nothing like his father. I can hardly complain at having only one serious rival. But still, it is infuriating!

She spent the rest of the day in thought, then dressed and called for one of her brothers to escort her. At first he was willing, thinking she had come to her senses and was on her way home, but when she announced she was going to the estate at Ichijo, he almost refused. She caused such a fuss that he agreed, shivering at the thought of the spectacle she’d make if he continued to thwart her. How impossible she was! he thought, and how the Commander has spoiled her! No wonder he has taken to courting Her Highness. She is much less trouble.

These were unworthy thoughts for a brother to have of his sister, but one can perhaps understand his embarrassment.

The carriage had scarcely arrived when Kumoi no Kari clambered out. She strode past her shocked brother and sent gentlewomen scattering. There was hardly any time to warn Her Highness of the approaching visitor. The women were too polite to cry out, and it seemed no one wanted to disturb the mournful silence of the Ichijo house. Kumoi no Kari cared little for such niceties. She came equipped for battle, determined that if her husband had his mind set on this princess, then Her Highness would learn her place. I don’t care if she outranks me, Kumoi no Kari thought, her blood boiling; she will not get the better of me!

A gentlewoman, Koshosho, stepped out to block her path. “My mistress is waiting for you,” Koshosho said, her gaze darting anxiously towards the curtains to the right of the aisle. “She has been expecting you for some time.”

Oh! thought Kumoi no Kari, so that’s how she wants to play it, as if she is the innocent one! Well, we shall see about that! She sat in front of the curtain, making out a faint shape beyond it. Mastering her emotions, she summoned a sharp smile. “Once I called you sister.” Her eyes narrowed. “Now what shall I call you?”

Her Highness lifted the curtain separating them. “Please call me sister again.”

* * *

The Second Princess was bewildered by prayer.

It was almost too much for her to take in. First her husband died, wasting away so swiftly and under such mysterious circumstances. Scarcely had she recovered from that cruel blow when her mother passed away, and now she found herself married again, quite against her will, and against her mother’s will, too, though her new husband had put it about that the Haven had approved the match.

Surely, Her Highness reflected, I did something very wicked in a past life to endure so much suffering now! If only I could relieve this burden. But the Commander refused to let her take her vows and become a nun, and so she existed in a twilight state, neither living nor dead, and she felt absolutely wretched.

To alleviate her sins, which she thought must be great, she copied out sutras and sent gifts of robes to the monks who’d attended the Haven’s last earthly days. She prayed and made offerings and prayed again, both for her late husband the Intendant and for her dear mother. Nothing seemed to bring respite.

Though the Commander’s attentions were very kind, he insisted on pursuing her even when she made it known she found his presence disturbing. Her women flattered him shamelessly, encouraging him and scolding her for failing to show proper gratitude. All she could remember was her mother’s anger and shame, and her grief increased until she could barely speak, and could only whisper lines such as, “Left in my lonely plight in this unending night... [2]”

She took to wondering on the nature of karma. Sitting on the veranda, she would peep out into the garden at a bird singing in a tree and wonder if it contained the reincarnation of the late Intendant.

One of her gentlewomen enjoyed a happy event. Koshosho, thinking it might cheer her mistress from her apathy, asked the lady to bring her child to the house as soon as it was safe to do so. The Second Princess sat the baby in her lap and played with it, studying its tiny features. The longer she spent with it, the more she became convinced by the expression in its eyes. The child looked at her with love, and she thought this was the reincarnation of her mother. Her spirits lifted and she smiled and laughed for the first time in years, and her women sighed with relief.

Then one morning Her Highness woke from a dream and realised the baby didn’t resemble the Haven at all. The expression in its eyes, the look she’d recognised, belonged not to her mother but to the late Intendant. How cruel of him to haunt her! It was not her fault that the Commander had fixed his attentions upon her so firmly. She had not sought his attentions in the slightest. It wasn’t fair of the late Intendant to scold her like this. It was bad enough that His Excellency and his family thought her ways were light and not to be trusted. She turned her face from the baby but did not ask its mother to remove it.

She had not expected the Commander’s wife to call. The lady at Sanjo was very proud, it was said, and the Commander spoke of her with a mixture of amusement, exasperation, and deference. She sounds so very unlike _me_ , Her Highness thought. Their marriage sounds like a battleground. How awful! But rather than consider how she might bind him closer and win him over with her quiet, sweet nature, instead she shuddered at how all marriages must end in unpleasantness.

When she lifted the curtain and invited Kumoi no Kari to call her sister, the Second Princess didn’t know what to expect. The Commander’s wife looked terrifying, a dart who knew how to wound. His Excellency had always frightened Her Highness but his daughter was his equal. “I didn’t want any of this,” she said. “I am not your rival.”

Kumoi no Kari stared at her and murmured:

“ _The blossom’s tint is washed away  
By heavy showers of rain..._

And to think I was worried by you! Why, your looks are nothing compared to mine. Although,” she continued wryly,

“ _My charms, which once I prized so much,  
Are also on the wane._ [3]

Not that looks are so important. A woman’s character is what matters.” This she had heard from the Commander many times.

Her Highness nodded. “You are quite right, sister. I have tried to preserve my reputation, but events conspired against me. If only I had followed the example of other princesses and refused marriage! Nothing good has come of either union. The first brought me no joy, and now this one must cause you as much unhappiness as it does me.”

Kumoi no Kari struggled with her thoughts. What a strange person my husband has got himself involved with! She felt affronted on the Commander’s behalf, and spoke briskly as if to a child: “Don’t be so foolish. My brother treated you well enough while he lived, and the Commander is a good husband. He is certainly the handsomest man around, so you cannot fault his looks or breeding. I don’t know why you’re so set against him.”

Her Highness wrung her hands and looked woeful.

This is really too much! Kumoi no Kari thought. “You must have wanted it in your heart, otherwise he would not have pursued you so assiduously and for so long. Be honest with yourself, even if you won’t be honest with me.”

Her Highness began to weep.

Discomfited, Kumoi no Kari gazed at her rival. She was sure the Dame of Staff wouldn’t collapse in such a pathetic manner, but then, the Dame of Staff had been a substitute for her, and the Second Princess was different. She could think of no reason why her husband was so intent on pleasing such an ungrateful woman, and almost said as much aloud, but then she recalled the advice given by her elder sister the Consort and decided she couldn’t hate the Second Princess. No, instead she pitied her. How terrible it must be to live in fear of anyone’s attention, no matter how kindly meant. How awful it was for Her Highness to voice her protests and be ignored, while she could shout as loud as she liked and be heard.

Despite her formidable temper, the Commander’s wife was not unkind. She softened towards the Second Princess. “Come now, this won’t do,” she chided while Her Highness still sobbed. Kumoi no Kari went through the curtains and sat with her, petting her hair as if she were a child and holding her close.

“I am not jealous of you,” Kumoi no Kari said. “I think he doesn’t really love either of us. Or perhaps he does, but in different ways. He wanted me because my father said no and kept us apart even though things between us had gone much further than anyone ever realised. But we were kept apart until we could make a proper marriage, and I became his childhood dream. Once he’d realised the dream, his sensible nature asserted itself and he settled and made a life for his family. The death of the late Intendant shocked him and made him long to dream again. You, Your Highness, you fitted that dream. The more you rejected him, the more he wanted you, for men are foolish in that way, and in keeping yourself apart, he was reminded of the time I was kept apart from him. It must be his destiny to fall in love with the unattainable. He loves the illusion of being in love, but not the reality. That is for us to endure.”

Her Highness was shocked by such frank talk and started to protest. She stammered out no more than a few words before the baby crawled into the room, followed by its mother and Koshosho.

The Second Princess hid her face, but Kumoi no Kari held out her arms and picked up the baby. “What a sweet child!” she said, and exchanged a few words with its mother. She jigged the baby on her knee and made it laugh. “What’s wrong?” she asked Her Highness. “Why are you turning away?”

The Second Princess felt flustered. In a faint voice she explained her belief that the late Intendant had been reincarnated into this child and was here to watch and judge her and to remind her of her mistakes.

“Oh, no,” Kumoi no Kari said, placing the child in Her Highness’ arms and making her cuddle it close. “Sister, why worry? It’s only a baby.”

___________________________________

1\. Emperor Tenchi  
2\. Kakinomoto no Hitomaro  
3\. Ono no Komachi


End file.
